Trump talks about Queens subway murder in State of the Union address

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President Donald Trump talked about the fatal shooting on a Queens subway platform during his Tuesday night State of the Union address.

The man now in custody for the shooting is an alleged MS-13 gang member. Ramiro Gutierrez is now facing charges for murder, gang assault, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. The 26-year-old suspect is accused of gunning down 20-year-old Abel Mosso on Sunday afternoon after fighting on a Manhattan-bound 7 train.

“Just yesterday, an MS-13 gang member was taken into custody for a fatal shooting on a subway platform in New York City,
Trump said. “We are removing these gang members by the thousands, but until we secure our border they’re going to keep streaming back in.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also talked about the subway shooting in relation to border security.

“These things should not be happening if we can prevent that,” she said. “We know that the crime and the drugs and those things drastically stop if you have real border security, and that includes a wall.”

Trump’s first State of the Union address also dealt with the issue of MS-13 in New York. In it, he honored the Long Island parents of two teenage girls beaten to death by alleged MS-13 gang members.

Kayla Cuevas (left) was found dead on Sept. 14 in the backyard of a home. Her friend, Nisa Mickens (right), was found the night before on the street near Brentwood High school. Investigators said both teens died from blunt force trauma. (Facebook)

Since that day, Evelyn Rodriguez, the mother of teenage victim Kayla Cuevas, was killed in the same area where her daughter was found dead.

MS-13 is connected to crimes across the country. The FBI started an MS-13 National Gang Task Force in 2014.